


Spoiled

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [102]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecure Tony, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Tony Stark, Protective Loki (Marvel), Protective Phil Coulson, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-07 00:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18227645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: Moving was difficult at any time but it was worse when it meant making new friends.ORThe one where Loki is a dad who may or may not be spoiling his kid (according so some).





	Spoiled

**Author's Note:**

> Sarah Rogers isn't mean, she just doesn't quite get it.

When the moving truck pulled away, empty, the pair were left standing on the sidewalk, staring up at their new home. Quaint was a good word to describe the house, two bedroom, one and a half bath, all it was missing was the picket fence. The street had houses of different styles but all were equally well kept and had little faces peeking out the windows to spy on the new family.

“Hello,” said a tired looking woman in scrubs with a boy of about ten next to her, holding a plate of cookies. “I’m Sarah Rogers and this is my son Steve. We live across the street and just wanted to welcome you to the street.”

“Thank you,” said the man, not quite smiling but also not frowning. “I’m Loki and this is my son, Tony.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” said Sarah. “Steve, say hello.”

“Hello,” said Steve, stepping forward with his hand outstretched towards Loki, who shook the offered hand.

“Hello,” said Loki.

Sarah looked like she was waiting for something.

“Well, it was great of you to introduce yourselves,” said Loki. “We have had a long day, so I think we are going to retire now.”

Loki took the cookies with a nod. Again, Sarah looked like she was expecting something but instead of giving her a chance to voice whatever it was, Loki and Tony walked to their house together without a backward glance.

“They were kinda rude,” said Steve, wrinkling his nose. “The kid didn’t even say hello.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Sarah with a tired smile. “It’s not a reflection on you.”

Inside the house, Loki set the plate of cookies on the counter and looked around the kitchen. Most things were still in boxes, though the refrigerator was set up – if empty. 

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” asked Loki.

Tony shrugged, climbing onto the stool next to the island in the kitchen. Loki turned to look at the boy with a patient smile.

“I dunno,” said Tony after a moment.

“How about I order us a pizza?”

“Really?” said Tony, small face lighting up with a bright smile.

“Consider it done,” said Loki fondly. “While we are waiting, please go unpack your room.”

“Okay,” said Tony, slipping off the stool and heading to his bedroom.

A week later, Loki and Tony arrived at the local park for the neighborhood cook out. Tony was holding Loki’s hand, anxiously looking around at everyone. 

A group of children from about 8 to twelve were playing on the playground together while parents talked around the perimeter together, grilling or just gossiping. 

“Hello Loki,” said Sarah, walking up and offering Loki a drink. “How are you settling in?”

“Fine thank you,” said Loki, taking to drink with his free hand with an easy nod. 

“Tony, why don’t you go play with the other kids?” suggested Sarah, smiling down at the seven year old.

“Maybe later,” said Tony shyly.

Loki squeezed his hand gently, causing Tony to look up at him. At his fathers encouraging nod, Tony looked up at Sarah.

“No thank you,” said Tony, more confidently. “I’m fine with my dad.”

“Are you sure?” said Sarah. “He’ll probably just be talking about boring adult stuff. You would have much more fun playing with kids closer to your age.”

Tony squeezed Loki’s hand twice, taking half a step away from Sarah, putting himself a little behind his dad.

“Tony said he was fine here,” said Loki, his voice turning frosty. “I trust his judgment.”

“Sorry,” said Sarah, holding up a hand to show that she meant no harm. “I wasn’t trying to be pushy. I just know how my Stevie could be when he was younger, always needing a little push to go make new friends.”

“Tony will go play when he is ready,” said Loki, still glaring at the nurse.

“Just be careful,” said Sarah with a forced laugh. “You’re going to spoil that boy if you always let him decide.”

“Good,” said Loki before turning away to find a new person to converse with, always keeping his own body between Tony and Sarah.

They found a group of fathers near the grill that didn’t seem to mind Tony hanging around with them. For about a half hour, they talked about work and eventually, Tony told Loki he was going to go play on the swings.

As Tony approached a swing, another boy ran ahead of him and jumped on it.

“What’s your name?” asked the boy. “I’m Clint. I’m ten. I haven’t seen you before. Steve said a new boy named Tony had moved in near him. Are you Tony?”

“Yes,” said Tony, swallowing hard, tilting his chin up. “I was going to use that swing.”

“I know,” said Clint with a grin, pushing himself with his feet to bounce more than swing. “I saw you approach from the slide. But I got here first. I raced you for it. And I won.”

“I didn’t know we were racing,” said Tony with a frown.

“You can have it when I’m done,” said Clint with a grin.

With a sigh, Tony glanced over at his father, who was watching the interaction while still carrying on a conversation with a father who was probably in the FBI. Tony turned his attention to the monkey bars. There was no line to cross them, so Tony walked over to the ladder.

Again, Clint ran over and climbed up before Tony could, pushing Tony slightly, not enough to make him fall but enough to cause Tony to stumble. The younger boy glared up at Clint as he dangled from the bars, laughing gleefully at the game only he was enjoying. 

“Stop,” said Tony. 

“It’s just a game,” said Clint. “Come on, we’re going to play tag. Natasha is really good at it.”

“No, I just want to swing,” said Tony.

“Come on, Tony, come play tag,” encouraged Steve from the top of the slide.

“No,” said Tony, shaking his head frantically. “I just want to swing.”

“You be it!” yelled Clint, dropping down, tapping Tony’s shoulder, and running away with a screech. “Tony’s it!”

Tony turned, desperate eyes searching for help and falling on his dad, who was marching over, having watched the entire scene carefully, hoping that Tony would be able to work it out himself. He wanted his son to learn how to work with others but there was only so much he could watch his child endure before it became too much. Tony had already endured too much.

“Dad!” said Tony, running over to Loki and jumping into his arms. “I said no! I wasn’t mean, I just wanted to swing and they wanted to play tag and I said no and they won’t listen!”

“I know, I heard,” said Loki softly. “You did what you were supposed to, you’re okay.”

“I said no,” whispered Tony, burying his face into his father’s neck.

“We were just trying to play tag, sir,” said Steve, coming up to Loki with a frown. “I guess Tony just didn’t want to be it. If that’s all, I’ll be it. It’s not a big deal.”

“I heard Tony say he just wanted to swing,” said Loki calmly, letting Tony know that he had heard him and the other children that he knew what was going on. “Why not just let him swing?”

“He wasn’t using the swing,” said Clint, climbing back on the monkey bars.

“Would that be because you were blocking his attempts to get there?”

Clint flushed and mumbled something about it just being a game.

“Is there a problem here?” asked Phil Coulson, one of the fathers Loki had been speaking with earlier. Loki noticed that Sarah Rogers wasn’t far behind.

“Yes,” said Loki. “But one that is easily solved. My son would just like to swing while the other children want to play tag. I see no reason why they cannot both accomplish their goals separately.”

“We just wanted to play tag with him!” insisted Clint. “And then he didn’t want to be it and he went crying to his dad.”

“Clint,” said Phil, warning clear in his voice. “If Tony wants to swing then you let him swing.”

“But Dad!”

Phil raised an eyebrow. Clint stopped talking and looked down, chastised.

“I think Tony should play with the others,” said Sarah. “It’ll be a great way for him to make friends with the neighborhood kids.”

“Tony said no,” said Loki bluntly.

“You’re spoiling him,” said Sarah. “I know it’s not my place, but if you let you kid have his way all the time then you’re going to end up with a spoiled brat. I’ve seen it happen at the hospital. A bunch of well meaning parents come in with kids who won’t sit for an exam, who kick and scream, who whine and beg to get their way. You don’t want to have a kid like that.”

“You’re right, it’s not your place,” said Loki, his tone freezing everyone. “But I’ve worked hard to teach Tony that no means no and that if he doesn’t like something then he can respectfully set his boundaries. So maybe you should worry more about your own child’s lack of respect for someone else’s boundaries than you should about me spoiling my kid.”

Loki walked away and made it most of the way across the park before he was stopped by Phil Coulson and his son Clint.

“Hey man, I’m sorry about that,” said Phil. “Sarah can be a bit much but she means well.”

“I’m certain that she does mean well but it’s not her place to correct my parenting.”

“I know,” agreed Phil. “I’m not here to make excuses for her. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for Clint. We’ve been working on using our words to ask people to play and not actions.”

“I want to apologize to Tony,” said Clint, hopping from one foot to the other.

“Tony?” asked Loki softly.

Tony shook his head, refusing to budge from his hiding place.

“Not right now,” said Loki to Clint. “You should try to apologize to Tony later, after he has had some time to calm down.”

“I’m adopted,” said Clint. “And when I was at the orphanage it wasn’t always easy to make friends so sometimes I’m a little rough. I’m working on it and I didn’t mean to be mean to Tony, I promise.”

“I understand,” said Loki with a nod. “I’m happy that you have a good home now and are working on making good choices. Tony and I are going home now but we may be back at the park tomorrow or the next day.”

Phil and Clint said good-bye and allowed Loki and Tony to leave, walking the rest of the way to their new home.

Once at home, Tony sat on the floor with Loki, rolling a small ball between them.

“Why didn’t you tell Clint I’m adopted too?” asked Tony.

“Why would I?” asked Loki mildly, knowing that Tony needed to talk it out after situations that caused him to panic like the park.

“To make connections. You always tell me it’s important to make connections with people and me being adopted would make a connection Clint.”

“It would, that’s true, but had we talked about telling anyone today?”

“No.”

“No, we didn’t, and since we didn’t talk about it and you didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything.”

Tony nodded. Early on, Tony had learned that Loki was big on communication and trust. Tony had come to him from a rough home. The abuse he had suffered had left the kid unable to voice his wants or concerns. Loki had been working with him on saying no when something made him uncomfortable. If it was something they had to do – like when the move had originally come up when Loki knew he was being transferred – then they stopped and talked about why Tony was uncomfortable and how they could work to come to a point where the move wouldn’t be so scary. So far, Tony had come leaps and bounds but still got overwhelmed easily, especially when someone didn’t listen when he said no.

“I’m proud of how you acted today,” said Loki quietly, rolling the ball back to Tony. “You were calm, you said no, and you weren’t mean or rude, you were firm. That was very good.”

The smile Tony gave him was worth every time Loki had to spend trying to help his kid set healthy boundaries. And if anyone thought that he was spoiling Tony, well, Loki would be only too happy to spoil his kid if it meant he was happy and healthy.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not even sure at this point. It's not what I had planned for the fic but Loki took over and insisted we talk about boundaries so here we are.
> 
> Also just in case - the adoption is not a secret. Loki let's Tony decide who he tells for the most part to let him feel more secure.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
